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For more than three years now, the adult entertainment business has been looking for something to help it survive. The industry is in crisis, with major brands collapsing, and legendary companies making desperate attempts to compensate for crashing revenues. While some are looking to mobile internet solutions as the hope for the future, other companies are tinkering with the basic formula of the business.

Since the late 1980s, the number of porn titles has increased substantially from one year to the next. Even after 2005, when the adult DVD market began its free fall, the numbers kept getting bigger; last year, production peaked at more than 15,000 new movies.

This year, it's time for a change. Production companies are (finally) cutting back on major features, and moving toward smaller scenes that are more compatible with online viewing.

Imagine that -- the porn industry is getting ready to break into the online porn industry!

Despite what the folks in the San Fernando Valley may believe, it's unlikely that this will lead to a substantial increase in revenue. However, it could potentially lower production costs and slightly increase profit margins in a shrinking market.

What the mainstream media folks – and, for that matter, the porn producers trying to save their businesses – have failed to grasp is that the industry has been on the brink of this development for a while. For years, the number of major features, such as Pirates or Corruption, has been falling, while gonzo and wall-to-wall films (basically sex scenes stitched together without even a token effort at a plot) have been flooding the market. When a DVD consists of nothing but several unrelated sex scenes, the only thing that ties them together is the physical media. Simply pushing them to the web, which seems to be the plan now, seems to be the logical next step.

While it's too early to know what the results will be, it may already be too late for the industry. Although there are some incredibly strong, well-run companies in the space, the industry as a whole has been slow to adapt to changing consumer behavior. This new trend will probably feed the few with the strength to pull through the porn recession, while the rest wouldn't make it regardless of how they change.